to me at least, most comments seem sideways or neutral around here. With every bit of confirmed news -- regardless of what may have been said when an item was just rumoured -- the general consensus defaults to "we trust the film makers/writers." Again to me, this indicates that most everyone here does in fact want these films to be made. (One might add, "at any cost" but that is an over simplification of our collective true feelings on the matter. A fandom we are and a fandom we shall remain.)

For instance, the idea that the films would be structured as if read from a book (Bilbo's book) was first floated here when the bridge film concept was still on the table. IIRC Guillermo himself participated in a thread where that was being discussed (though hovering at the edge of actually spilling the beans, as was his way). At the time there seemed to be general agreement that this was an acceptable, if not desirable, approach to bringing in some characters from LOTR that are not mentioned (which is not the same as did not exist) in The Hobbit and/or the period between the two tales.

As for the joking around that goes on here (such as my recent comment: "Itaril of the Ewok Realm"), for the most part, it is not intended to be negative. It is a way of celebrating our shared interests.